What's in a Name?
by OACrutchfeild
Summary: It wasn't as if she didn't know as soon as their eyes met. It wasn't as if she'd mixed up her fiancé with his twin. Elizabeth Midford was a lot of things, but she wasn't an idiot, and she knew that the name Ciel Phantomhive carried a lot more power than the true name of the person standing before her... and the name Ciel Phantomhive came with an engagement attached.


It wasn't as if she didn't know as soon as their eyes met. It wasn't as if she'd mixed up her fianceé with his twin. Elizabeth Midford was a lot of things, but she wasn't an idiot, and she knew that the name Ciel Phantomhive carried a lot more power than the true name of the person standing before her... and the name Ciel Phantomhive came with an engagement attached.

Elizabeth knew who she wanted to marry. It wasn't Ciel.

Well, she supposed it was now. That was he- his name now. The child who always smiled and laughed, who she'd played with constantly, the twin who never lorded- literally- his name over her, thinking he was better than her, better than any nobel.

Yes, Elizabeth knew who she wanted to marry. She would keep her friend's secret. The secret of the boy she loved.

But the smiles seemed to vanish as he grew colder. He never wanted to play dress-up anymore, occasionally panicking when she suggested things that he'd liked- or she thought he'd liked- before becoming Ciel. Things that, now that she thought on it, boys weren't supposed to like... but no, that wasn't right, because he'd like them, and changing a name didn't change the person.

She was astonished when she saw him in the dress at that party, but that couldn't have really been him. Ciel hadn't worn dresses since before he was Ciel. The person with the long dark ponytails in the soft pink gown must have been someone else.

When, later that month, Madam Red passed, Elizabeth knew that the only other person aware of the secret was gone.

The Campania was the turning point, she thought. The moment Ciel should have known she knew. The other Ciel had never cared one way or another about swords, it was her Ciel who was scared of them... but he didn't seem to notice the difference. The easter egg hunt proved her theory that he was recalling less and less of the time before he was Ciel.

Still, he'd accepted her as his wife, and she was happy, really. She was. Even if his smiles were always fading, and he never wanted to be around her since he got back, and he was the boy she loved but no longer her friend-

Elizabeth knew who she wanted to marry. She was so happy. So, so happy...

When Sieglind appeared, and they took lessons together, things seemed so nostalgic, so... like-they-used-to-be, and she liked teasing him, she'll admit it, alright? It was fun, and they were just playing around, and they were helping this adorable new friend, and of course it couldn't last. Of course.

She went to the music hall to dance, and laugh, and ignore it all. Ciel was the love of her life. He'd grown colder, but that was just part of growing up, the part she hated most. And then... then there were stars. Then there was life, and childishness, and... and... she could see. God, could she see, everything...

And for the first time, Elizabeth wasn't sure what she really wanted, because when she saw the demon, she knew that she'd grow to be a young widow.

It was terrifying. Everything was falling apart, slipping away. She had to save him. She had to fix this. She had to do something!

Of course she left. She couldn't stay and watch him die. She had to train. She had to slay the demon...

"Lizzie, did you miss me?"

She turned, eyes wide. "You?"

"So you knew."

She raised her sword against her fiancé. Her real fiancé. "I was happy."

"To marry my twin sister?" the boy laughed, garishly. "You're pathetic, Lizzie."

She shook her head. "No. But I am going to marry your twin brother."

His face twisted into something ugly, as he attacked. The fight was not long. He'd underestimated the girl he never paid mind to, and he had to run, fleeing into the darkness, to where her Ciel, the true Ciel, if not the one who'd had that name at birth, was waiting. Things would work out in the end, she thought, as she fell to the ground, hearing screams of the dying echo through what was left of the music hall. They had to. They had to...


End file.
